NASA Evacuates Emergency Crew From JSC

This visualization shows the sea surface temperature from September 17 to September 21 when temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico remained one to two degrees warmer than the 82 degree minimum needed to sustain a hurricane. Every area in yellow, orange or red represents 82 degrees F or above. Temperature data is from the AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite, while the cloud images of Hurricane Rita were taken by the Imager on the GOES-12 satellite.Credit: NASA.

CAPE CANAVERAL - A direct
hit to Galveston by Hurricane Rita could cause extensive flooding and damage to
Johnson Space Center and the homes of thousands of NASA and contract workers,
government and university documents show.

A storm surge of more than
22 feet could wash across the home of NASA's Mission Control Center, which is
located less than a mile from Galveston Bay in a low-lying area already prone to
flooding, the documents show. [Click here
for an animation of how flooding may affect the region based on orbital data.]

The prospect for
devastation prompted NASA on Thursday to evacuate an 82-member emergency crew
that had planned to ride out the storm at the center -- a move indicative of
danger posed by Rita.

"Given the size and
strength of the storm, we decided not to take any chances," said Allard
Beutel, a spokesman for NASA headquarters in Washington.

"The fear is mostly
from flooding, from tidal surge. There were estimates that showed the storm
would put five feet of water throughout the center if they had a 22-foot storm
surge."

Normal operations shut down
Wednesday at JSC, which is NASA's primary center for design, development and
testing of human spacecraft and systems.

The center is home to
NASA's astronauts. Both the shuttle and International Space Station programs
are managed there. At Mission Control, flight engineers keep a round-the-clock
vigil on the orbiting outpost.

Primary control of the
station has been transferred to Russia's Mission Control Center outside Moscow
until the storm passes.

The 13,000 NASA and
contractor employees who work at JSC primarily live in surrounding suburbs that
also would be swamped if Rita comes ashore at Galveston.

Government storm surge
studies and maps show the 1,620-acre center -- which sits 20 to 30 feet above
sea level -- would be washed over with water in any Category 3, Category 4 or
Category 5 hurricane that came ashore near Galveston.

The studies and maps were
prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state of Texas'
Division of Emergency Management Emergency Management, and the University of
Texas at Austin Center for Space Research.

The university's Center for
Space Research recently completed a storm surge study of a remarkably similar,
but theoretical, storm based on data from Hurricane Carla in September 1961.

Researchers employed a
computerized model run by the National Hurricane Center to estimate storm surge
heights and winds resulting from a Category 4 hurricane that makes landfall at
Galveston with 150 mph winds.

In Harris County, where JSC
is located, wind damage alone would cause $36 billion in damage, the study
shows. Some 121,661 homes would be destroyed or severely damaged and another
253,666 would sustain minor or moderate damage. The number of households affected:
1.2 million.

It's too early to predict
how much damage Rita might cause at JSC, said Gordon Wells, the Center for
Space Research program manager who led the study.

The hurricane took a
sharper-than-expected turn to the north Wednesday afternoon, and storm models
showed Galveston and Houston might dodge a direct hit.

"So we'll hope for the
best and hope that this storm continues on its course along the model
track," Wells said. "That would take potential damage away from
Harris County, which would be good news for JSC."

In the past 12 months, two
NASA centers and a shuttle external tank factory have been battered by
hurricanes.

In late August, Hurricane
Katrina hit Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and Michoud Assembly
Facility, the New Orleans factory where shuttle tanks are manufactured. The
agency says it will cost more than $1 billion to recover.

Hurricanes Charley, Frances
and Jeanne delivered a triple-whammy to Kennedy Space Center in September 2004,
causing more than $100 million in damage.

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